The project Non-Conformism to Feminisms: Russian Women Artists from the Kolodzei Art Foundation is a selection from the Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art, covering three generations of artists, from the 1960’s to the present. The show includes paintings, works on paper, photography, video, and interactive installations. Arranged thematically, the exhibition features the work of emerging, mid-career and established artists. It is a visual exploration of the development and accomplishments of women artists from Russia emphasizing the importance of media experimentation for contemporary Russian women artists in defining their identity.

The first generation consists of artists who began their careers at the time of Khrushchev’s “Thaw” of the 1950’s and took part in the first, crucial, unofficial exhibitions of the 1970’s, including Lydia Masterkova, Valentina Kropivnitskaya, Tatiana Levitskaia, Natalia Shibanova, and Rimma Gerlovina. The next generation includes artists who participated in the initial exhibitions and others who became involved in the early 1980’s, including Natalia Nesterova, Tatyana Nazarenko, Olga Bulgakova, Anna Birshtein, Natalia Abalakova, Lusy Voronova, Diana Vouba, Svetlana Kalistratova, and Valentina Lebedeva-Lesin. The latest generation is made up of artists whose works date from post-perestroika and post-Soviet period from the late 1980’s to the present, including Irina Danilova, Natalia Kamenetskaia, Alexandra Dementieva, Alla Esipovich, Marina Koldobskaya, Tatiana Antoshina, Irene Caesar, Elena Kallistova, Marina Kolotvina, Victoria Kovalenchikova, Natalia Elkonina, Dorothee Chemiakine, Marina Karpova, Anna Frants, Tatiana Krol, Elena Gubanova, Ludmila Belova, Olga Tobreluts, Aidan Salakhova, Katya Filippova, Elena Sarni, Svetlana Martinchik, Marina Gertsovskaya, Alena Anosova, Marina Chernikova, Innessa Levkova-Lamm, Olga Lamm, Tatiana Daniliyants, Julia Winter, and Natalia Sitnikova.

Though an exhibition like this one can show only a fraction of what is being done by Russian women artists, we hope this show will encourage viewers to find out more about the world of Russian Art. Today, by analyzing works by Russian women artists from positions of gender discourse, we can find unique forms of expression. Gender-based research allows us to have a new view of non-conformist art, finding in its stories yet another subject of inquiry. The project >From Non-Conformism to Feminisms: Russian Women Artists from the Kolodzei Art Foundation is designed to generate public awareness of Russian women in art, and to empower women artists to pursue their calling. #NonConformismToFeminisms

The Kolodzei Art Foundation, Inc., a US-based 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public foundation started in 1991, organizes exhibitions and cultural exchanges in museums and cultural centers in the United States, Europe and Russia, often utilizing the considerable resources of the Kolodzei Collection, and publishes books on Russian art. The Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art is one of the world’s largest collections, consisting of over 7,000 works by more than 300 artists from Russia and the former Soviet Union. For more information, visit http://www.kolodzeiart.org.

The Museum of Russian Art is conveniently located at the intersection of 35W and Diamond Lake Road in South Minneapolis. Open daily; free parking lot available. For more information, visit TMORA.org, or call 612-821-9045.